Sanford’s Taylor Littlefield drives in for two points in the Spartans’ win over Kennebunk last week.
Courtesy photo by Kristen Plante

SANFORD—The Sanford girls comeback fell just short as they lost a 68-63 heartbreaker to South Portland at the Memorial Gym on Tuesday.

Trailing 40-33 late in the third quarter, they gradually worked their way back into the game. Taylor Littlefield opened the fourth with a basket and pair of free throws but the Red Riot scored the next eight points. Sanford then responded with a 3-pointer by Sam Adams and basket by Littlefield to close it to 48-44.

With time running out, another Adams basket followed by two LeBlanc layups narrowed South Portland’s lead to 52-50. Adams then connected on another 3-pointer to give Sanford a 53-52 lead. Littlefield and Morgan Fogg each tossed in a free throw and Littlefield added another from the line with 26 seconds left, putting Sanford ahead 56-54 with just seconds left. But South Portland’s Danica Gleason put in a layup just before the buzzer to send the game into overtime, 56-56.

The visitors then went on to outscore Sanford 12-7 in the extra period to take the win.

LeBlanc and Adams led Sanford with 14 points each followed by Fogg with 12, Littlefield with 11 and Shelby Paiement with five.

Gleason, who is also South Portland’s all-star shortstop during the softball season, led all scorers with 27 points.

With Adams scoring all nine of her points in the first quarter, Sanford jumped off to a 15-7 lead after one.

LeBlanc led Sanford with five points in the second quarter as the locals increased their lead to 22-12 at the half.

In a lackluster third quarter, Sanford outscored Noble 6-5 before exploding for 26 points in the fourth quatrter. Taylor Littlefield and Fogg each scored nine in the fourth.

In Sanford’s 61-24 win over Kennebunk a week ago, Morgan Fogg led with 17 points followed by Janelle Cannon with 13 and Littlefield with nine. Also scoring were Hannah Howes with six, and Liz Bougie and Jeannette Jones with two each.

CHEVERUS 57, SANFORD 47

On Friday, Sanford saw its record fall to 5-2 with a 57-47 loss to Cheverus.

Sanford started out with a 7-4 lead early on, but Cheverus went on a 12-0 run at that point to take a 16-7 lead. Moments later, Sanford responded with a 6-0 run, but it wasn’t enough to help the locals stay close as they found themselves trailing 23-14 when the quarter ended.

Cheverus outscored Sanford 11-10 in the second quarter to take a 34-24 lead into the second half, then outscored the Spartans 13-8 in the third for a 47-32 advantage heading into the final eight minutes of play.

Sanford never threw in the towel, however, scoring 15 points in the fourth while limiting Cheverus to 10.